As you all know my wife’s family and friends survived a very bad cyclone in their province recently. Although everyone is fine many houses were destroyed and power is still out in the area. Not that you could say much for the power situation prior to that but they did have electricity. Anyway the power situation there calls for a generator in case this ever happens again. Since we are building a house in the province I want a generator available for my use when I am there.

So, I have been asking questions of my family over there about buying two generators, one for the province and one for my home in Laguna. Being that I saw them in Ace Hardware at SM Mall I know they are readily available but I really don’t remember the price. The Ace Hardware website has little information on their inventory in stores in the Philippines. So I’m bringing it to my informed readers of this blog to help me out.

Basically I’m looking for something to keep the lights on and keep the fridge from getting warm. I don’t know if that’s realistic or not so if you may, just bring me down to earth. I looked at generators here in the states and got into questions such as which type fuel would I use and voltage and wattage. So again I’m asking for someone who has purchased and uses generators in the Philippines to let me know what I need and a price range. In the meantime I will go back to watching my Happy Slip videos on YouTube and to thank you in advance. I’ll share my recent favorite with you below.

Not much to say except I hope everyone is enjoying Memorial Day.  Just remember and maybe take some time out to honor the heroes who have served their country or countries. Please remember all who are currently serving whether at home or overseas as my son in Iraq is doing. I have one more son leaving tomorrow to go over and we are trying to honor him some this week and spend some family time with him. To all the veterans who have served Thank You for your service.

I know it’s been awhile since I’ve posted on this site and I’m here to tell you it’s been a hectic month for me. I am up to 20 websites that I run on my own and this one seems to be the last one I get to. Anyway, I was working on one of my websites concerning Philippine vacations and the subject of mountain climbing and hiking to volcano sites came up. I remembered one of my friends Juliet aka Pinaykeypoint has a site on treking to Mount Pinatubo. I have always wanted to go to Mount Pinatubo and hike. I witnessed much of the devastation caused by the eruption and when I left the Philippines the first time you couldn’t get anywhere near it. The last two times I was there I passed by close enough to see the volcano and it peaked my interest. So I have decided that one of my goals is to join one of Juliet’s groups and trek to Mount Pinatubo with plenty of memory sticks (and batteries) for my camera. If you are also interested in the trek to Mount Pinatubo or you want to see some beautiful pics, visit my friend’s site at Mount Pinatubo Tour. If Mount Pinatubo doesn’t excite you check out my latest post on things to do on Philippine vacations.

According to an article I found on Yahoo News the immigration of Asians and Hispanics to the United States is declining. Previously there was word that minorities would become the majority in the next twenty years but now that has been pushed back a decade. Does this mean less Asians and Hispanics are moving to the U.S. because there are less opportunities or are the families that are currently in the U.S. not able to provide the financial help to the immigrants. I think it is the latter because I can see it in the Filipino community where I am currently at.

Filipinos and OFW are sending less money back to the Philippines because the cost of living in the U.S. leaves little extra money to send. We will wait and see for now if the current adminisitration will keep their promises on improving the economy. They have predicted that the job market wouldn’t improve until late 2010 so don’t expect the numbers to change soon. I am leaving a link to the article I read below.

Declining Immigration Slows Asian and Hispanic Growth

As most of you probably know by now tropical cyclone Emong lashed the northern part of Luzon last week causing 50 deaths nationwide in the Philippines. The fatalities include 27 from Pangasinan as well as 25 injured and three still missing in just Pangasinan. My wife’s family is in Pangasinan and in fact we are buidling a second home there. The province we are associated with is Anda and the Barangay is Macaleeng which was one of the hardeest hit.

We have been on the phone with family and everyone is fine but most have lost their homes. The house we are building came out okay despite being only a few yards from the ocean. It has a good foundation and solid brick walls but we did lose the few roof panels that were being put on right before Emong hit. Power is not fully restored in Anda and could be weeks or months until it is. Everyone’s job now is assisting with downed trees and cleaning up what remains of their homes.

My sister-in-law, who is in her fifties, has lived in Pangasinan for her whole life and says she has never seen anything like this. Normally, they will get some high winds from the sea and lots of rain but this storm virtually hit them from behind with little warning. I ask that all of you pray for the victims and their families, not just in Pangasinan but throughout Luzon and the Philippines.

To read the latest on Cyclone Emong visit GMA News

As many of the readers know my wife took her Oath of Allegiance to the Republic of the Philippines yesterday, this finalizing her journey to obtain dual citizenship. The oath was given to what I would estimate 30-40 people at the Philippine Embassy in Washington, D.C. by Consul General Domingo Nolasco. There were people from all ages taking the oath yesterday. There were elderly couples, young people, and middle aged in attendance.

Prior to administering the oath the Consul General gave a break down of dual citizenship and answered questions from the people. Since some of the questions were asked and answered in Tagalog and I am only a beginning student of the language I will tell you what I understood from the lecture and questions. The most important thing he stressed is that the United States allows for dual or multi citizenships and will not take away US citizenship from dual citizens. In fact, he lets us know that if a child was born in the US to parents where one was a US citizen and one was a Filipino not naturalized yet that the child was automatically a dual citizen. The child would be a US citizen because of the US parent and a Philippine citizen because of the not naturalized parent, even though the child was born in the US. Another interesting matter discussed was income taxes with the Consul General stating that dual citizens do not have to pay income tax in the Philippines on income made in other countries only on income made in the Philippines.

Another question brought up and the main reason my wife did the dual citizenship is that there is no limit now on how long she can stay in the Philippines without leaving and that includes me as her husband too. Prior to dual citizenship she was required to leave after a one year stay. Also, she now can own a business 100% in the Philippines and can buy as much real estate as we can afford. She can vote in both the US and Philppines but if she ran for office in the Philippines she would be required to renounce any citizenships from other countries. There were other questions brought up but that’s all I can remember for now.

The only bad news we got was Philippine passports are only printed in the Philppines. This means that you have to either apply in the Philppines or go to an embassy in person and apply then wait for your passport to be sent to the embassy.

One last thing the Consul Genral wanted us to pass along was that they will be in the Atlanta Georgia area to give the oath sometime this month so if that is close to where you live prepare now to take the oath there. Contact the embassy at (202) 467-9300 for more information or visit their website.

Well it is over and I think when Manny “Pacman” Paquiao knocked out Ricky Hatton in the second round I woke up the whole neighborhood. I am proud of Pacman because he is a Filipino, but I am really proud of him because he came from humble beginnings and made something of his life. Even when people such as Floyd Merriweather Sr and Oscar Del La Hoya said that Hatton would overpower Manny and knock him out, Pacquiao was reserved and in his own words “I went out and did my job.” It shows what kind of people Hatton’s crew was when they wouldn’t even be by their fighter’s side at the press conference following the fight. Maybe Hatton, if he fights again, might want to look for a trainer who is devoted to him.

Anyway, it was good for the Philippines because they have been featured on television here in the States all week. It’s nice to turn on a TV channel and see Jeepneys going down the road alongside trikes and seeing smiling Filipino faces. Pacquiao has done so much to promote the Philippines and show how proud and humble the Filipino people are. Have a good celebration people of the Philippines you all deserve it!